The Minnesota Twins are returning home with renewed confidence after snapping a rough stretch, while the Miami Marlins look to build on back-to-back victories as the two teams collide on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
After losing 16 of 21 games from April 15 through Friday, the Twins managed to secure consecutive wins on the road against division rivals the Cleveland Guardians this weekend. The victories gave Minnesota its first series win since April 13-15 against the Boston Red Sox, marking a much-needed turnaround.
Now the Twins embark on a nine-game homestand, beginning with the Marlins. It’s their first home game since May 3, following a six-game road trip. Manager Derek Shelton expressed optimism after his bullpen delivered a 5-4 win on Sunday, with newly acquired reliever Yoendrys Gomez pitching a scoreless ninth inning to earn his third career save.
“I think the credit goes to our baseball ops group because this is a guy we just acquired,” Shelton said. “We’re continuing to observe and make decisions on our bullpen. … Really appreciate, in Gomez’s case, he had a layoff in Tampa, then (pitched) three days in a row.”
The Marlins are also seeking a third straight victory after taking two of three from the Washington Nationals this weekend. They won 8-7 on Saturday and 5-2 on Sunday after dropping the opener 3-2. Christopher Morel recorded his first RBI with Miami in Sunday’s win after a slow start to the season.
“When you come back, it’s easy to try to press the panic button a little bit and want things to happen quickly,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “Just got to hang in there and just kind of keep taking good at-bats. I’m going to continue to give him an opportunity to try to get into a rhythm and go, because he does have the ability to slug from the right side.”
On the mound, Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (3-2, 4.19 ERA) will make his ninth start. He looks to rebound after allowing five runs on six hits in five innings against the Nationals on Wednesday. This will be Ober’s second career start against Miami; in his first meeting in 2024, he gave up four runs on eight hits in five innings and took the loss.
Opposing him, Marlins right-hander Eury Perez (2-4, 5.01 ERA) also makes his ninth start. Perez has lost three straight outings and hasn’t won since April 19 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Command has been an issue, with 4.6 walks per nine innings this year compared to 3.0 in 2025, though his strikeout rate remains steady at 9.8 per nine innings (9.9 in 2025).
Perez was nearly perfect in his only career start against the Twins in 2025, pitching six shutout innings while allowing just one hit to earn the victory.
